Former Philippine Basketball Association Developmental League (PBA D-League) player Macky Acosta led the way for his team with 21 points, adding another win to their previous 5-12 standing. Jhaps Bautista was a great helping hand as well, totalling 15 points.
In terms of shooting, the Coach Michael Tan-squad actually shot at a higher 46 percentage than the Steel’s 43 percent beyond the arc, both teams setting the league record for a total of 25 three-pointers made in the entire game. However, it was guard Bautista’s shot during the last five minutes of the third quarter that began his team’s shooting streak to take them out of being 15 points down. Acosta sealed the deal at the last 17 seconds of the game with his two free throws, the team at 11th place celebrating knowing that they’re inching closer to the eighth spot in the south division that will get them into the playoffs.
In an interview with FoxSports, Basilan head coach Gerson Cabiltes said that he “told [his] team during the year that [they’re] gonna have one last push,” stating in a mix of English and Filipino, “I told them every game going into the playoffs counts. We don’t care if the team is strong or weak, as long as we play hard. What we’re chasing is around eight wins because the ones we’re chasing the seventh or eighth spots, they’re only at eight wins as well.” Coach Gerson is referring to the General Santos Warriors, Bacoor City Strikers, Paranaque Patriots, and the Cebu City Sharks who stand fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth, respectively, in their division, but are only at eight wins.
The next time the Basilan Steel will be playing is against the San Juan Knights on Saturday, January 12 at the Angeles University Foundation Gym in Pampanga, while their former opponents the Batangas City Tanduay Athletics is going head-to-head against fellow founding team Imus Bandera on Tuesday, January 15 at their homecourt, the Batangas City Coliseum.